Rights of hikers and backcountry skiers at issue in battle over development of Garibaldi Provincial Park

Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun01.07.2013

The Spearhead Traverse follows the Fitzsimmons Range from the Whistler Mountain /Garibaldi Provincial Park boundary at Flute Mountain around to the Spearhead Range at the edge of the Blackcomb Mountain / Garibaldi Provincial Park Boundary at the East Col. The traverse is done in both directions with Blackcomb to Whistler being most popular. The purpose of the Spearhead Huts Project is to build 3 huts along the traverse (one on Pattison, another near Russet Lake, and one on Macbeth) to reduce the adverse environmental impacts presently caused by people recreating there.

This image shows where the Pattison hut would be as part of the Spearhead project. The Spearhead Traverse follows the Fitzsimmons Range from the Whistler Mountain /Garibaldi Provincial Park boundary at Flute Mountain around to the Spearhead Range at the edge of the Blackcomb Mountain / Garibaldi Provincial Park Boundary at the East Col. The traverse is done in both directions with Blackcomb to Whistler being most popular. The purpose of the Spearhead Huts Project is to build 3 huts along the traverse (one on Pattison, another near Russet Lake, and one on Macbeth) to reduce the adverse environmental impacts presently caused by people recreating there.

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The right to play within a popular swath of backcountry behind the Whistler and Blackcomb downhill ski hills is up for debate as the B.C. government grapples with a proposed new land-management plan for the Spearhead area of Garibaldi Provincial Park.

The draft management plan addresses issues related to improved public access to the Spearhead area, including the rights of hikers and backcountry skiers versus mountain bikers and heli-skiers, and the prospect for a hut-to-hut ski and hiking system.

The draft is a revision to the 1990 master plan for 194,650-hectare Garibaldi park and covers the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons ranges, which form a horseshoe connecting Blackcomb Mountain to Whistler Mountain. Wedge Creek is to the north and Cheakamus Lake to the south.

Key elements of the BC Parks draft plan for the Spearhead area:

Endorse the concept of a hut-to-hut system that is “accessible to the public at an affordable cost” and provides “comfortable accommodation with minimal facilities to support self-sufficient users” while minimizing environmental impact, including to mountain goats. The Alpine Club of Canada and other organizations are proposing three huts at a cost of $1.3 million accommodating 35 to 40 people each by July 2017.

Create a new vehicle-accessible trailhead on the north side of Fitzsimmons Creek to provide summer access to the Singing Pass Trail; connect the new trailhead to the existing Singing Pass Trail by way of a new trail, including a footbridge, over Fitzsimmons Creek; consider a trail from the trailhead to connect into the park on the Blackcomb Mountain side; consider an alpine hiking trail linking Blackcomb Mountain to Whistler Mountain.

Maintain commercial heli-skiing despite more than two-thirds of 945 respondents to a park questionnaire expressing opposition due to issues such as conflicts with backcountry skiers, and impacts to wildlife, noise and emissions. Heli-skiing is “important to Whistler’s economy and contributes to the diversity of the recreational opportunities offered in the park. Furthermore, the presence of the heli-ski operator in the park provides an important measure of public safety.”

Due to “significant challenges” posed in the alpine, including the potential for off-trail damage to fragile ecosystems, mountain biking should not be expanded in the area. Encourage mountain bike access to park trailhead parking areas, but limit cycling to the Red Heather Ridge trail up to the Elfin Shelter and the proposed south Cheakamus River Trail.

The Spearhead area spans about 17,900 hectares or about nine per cent of the park.

The public has until Jan. 10 to comment on the draft plan.

Al Jenkins, a director of Friends of Garibaldi Park and a former Garibaldi Park area supervisor, said he generally agrees with the proposed new draft plan but is opposed to continued helicopters.

“This would be a fatal mistake,” he said. “In the fast-growing world of ski touring, this location in a provincial park deserves protection for those desiring the wild experience without the continual drone of helicopters interrupting the peace.”

He said access to the alpine provided by ski lifts, along with better alpine equipment and physical fitness, are only increasing conflicts with heli-skiing in the park.

Michelle Leroux, spokeswoman for Whistler Heli-Skiing, owned by Whistler Blackcomb, said in response that company activities are restricted to 5,099 hectares east of Blackcomb Mountain, representing 2.6 per cent of Garibaldi park.

About 25 per cent of the company’s heli-business is located within the park.

During the last winter season, Whistler Heli-Skiing catered to a total of 850 skiers and snowboarders over 26 days in the park. The company “respects the public (we) share the park with,” and avoids skiing on key busy weekends, Leroux said.

The company’s presence in the park also allows for assistance with rescues, and contributes snow and weather data to the Canadian Avalanche Association, she added.

BC Parks renewed Whistler Heli-Skiing’s park-use permit for five years in 2011.

The position of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of B.C. is that it generally supports improved free public access to the Spearhead area.

But it calls for a study to ensure the carrying capacity of the area is not exceeded, in terms of visitors, trails, campsites, and outhouses.

The club is opposed to aboriginal hunting and trapping in Garibaldi park and says: “Except for maintenance and emergencies, motorized access and recreation, including heli-skiing and heli-hiking, should be phased out of Garibaldi Park.”

Heli-skiers also get access to the new snow first, degrading the experience of backcountry skiers who get there on their own power, the club noted.

“With many traditional non-motorized recreation areas in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor being lost to unmanaged motorized activities, parks are the only remaining areas where the public can escape from the noise, smell and danger of motorized recreation.”

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Rights of hikers and backcountry skiers at issue in battle over development of Garibaldi Provincial Park

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